In this longer-than-expected article, I reviewed WHY you create custom services in a product that already has a robust SOAP/REST API, and show you how to build composite services, transaction-friendly services, and more. Consuming these custom services from .NET (or products like BizTalk Server) is easy and I tried to make it simple to follow along.

Salesforce.com is growing like gangbusters, and the need for qualified integration architects is growing with it. Every time someone stands up a SaaS application, they should be thinking about how to integrate with other cloud or on-premises systems. I’ve been writing all these articles for them because (a) it’s fun, and (b) it’s important to understand all the integration options! Next up, I’ll be looking at mobile notification services (like Windows Azure Notification Hubs) and their Streaming API.